It lurks
by PyroYoshi
Summary: (Revised 3/16/14) Hostile, shape shifting creatures are invading Liberty City. Who's infected, and who's still human? As both group tensions and the body count continue to rise, Niko must work together with friends and enemies alike in order to survive. The monsters are based of of those in John Carpenter's 'The Thing.'
1. Chapter 1: Invasions and proposals

Author's note: There's going to be a lot of blood, gore and character death in this story. If you can't deal with that, don't read it.

* * *

The incessant ringing of his cellphone roused Niko from sleep. Blinking several times, he glared at his alarm clock, and saw it was only 7:29am.

Too early.

As soon as his phone emitted its last ring, it was only two seconds before it went off again.

Niko debated with himself on weather or not to answer. He couldn't think of why anyone would be calling so early unless it was an emergency. Cursing to himself, he got up and strode over to his desk where his phone sat. He picked it up just as it began ringing for the third time. When he saw Roman's name on the caller ID, he sighed and wondered what sort of trouble his cousin had gotten into this time.

"Hello?" he asked drowsily.

"Cousin! Are you okay?!" Roman was practically shouting into the other end.

Niko was taken aback by the urgency of this question. "Besides the fact that you woke me up, yes I'm okay. Why? Did Dimitri sent someone after me? You know I can take care of that."

"Oh, thank goodness! I was really worried. Haven't you seen them? Those...those things?"

"Them? What are you talking about?"

"I take it you haven't..."

"What do you mean by them?"

There was a significant pause before Roman spoke again, sounding very strung out. "Well cousin, this is going to sound completely crazy, but it's true. I swear! Me and Mallory went out last night, and as we were walking back to our apartment, we saw a guy attacking another guy in an alley. But then...I really don't know how to explain this, but the attacker turned into some kind of hideous monster! I only got a brief look at it, but it had tentacles and way too many eyes in places where it shouldn't have had eyes! Mallory and I were so scared that we ran all the way back to my place and locked ourselves in! We're freaking out over here!"

Niko resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had heard some truly absurd things in his life, but this really took the cake. It made him think about kinds of drugs one would need to take to hallucinate such a thing.

"Roman, I think you and Mallory had too much to drink last night, and you had a vivid nightmare. Go back to sleep."

"I haven't slept! And I'm telling the truth! I know it sounds crazy, but you have to believe me!"

"Sorry, but I can't. I'll talk to you later when you've calmed down, alright?"

With that, Niko hung up. Since he was now fully awake, he decided there wouldn't be much point in going back to bed.

He was tempted to do nothing but laze around in front of the tv all day, as he'd had more than his share of action last night and was still a little tired.

Yesterday, bent cop Francis McReary had contacted him to do a 'small favor' in exchange for a nice sum of cash. The job sounded simple enough- murder a prominent lawyer and snag the files he had, but it had escalated dramatically, all because the secretary just happened to walk in on him.

Needless to say, Niko had no choice but to put down at least twenty cops in order to make his escape.

He was still wearing the top half of the suit he had on during the shootout, and it was incredibly wrinkled. Normally he wouldn't sleep in such nice clothes, but he had been so tired upon getting back home that he had forgotten to change.

He ambled over to his closet to pick out a different outfit, settling on a grey T shirt, a pair of jeans and the brown jacket he had worn on the trip over here. As he switched shirts, he heard someone frantically pounding on his door.

"For fuck's sake..."

The pounding got louder and faster, as whoever was out there desperately wanted to get in.

"Just a second! I'm coming." Niko put his pants on and quickly walked over to the door right as the banging ceased.

Upon opening the door, he was baffled to be greeted with an empty hallway. He looked to the left and saw Brucie, his amped up acquaintance, standing at the far end of the hall.

"What are you doing here, Brucie? It's really early." Niko asked.

The adrenaline junkie, clad in a white wife beater and baggy pants, quickly spun around to face him, taking several steps forward.

"Niko! Just the man I wanted to see! I got a new Infurnus last night. She's fast, real fast, and I thought you might want to take her for a test drive with me." he said excitedly.

"Maybe later, alright? I'm really tired, I had a long day yesterday." Niko explained.

Brucie put his hands up. "Alright, we don't have to race. How about a scenic drive down the beach instead? I mean, I'm up, you're up, we should hang out!"

"I don't know. I kind of wanted to spend the day in." Niko said, hoping the other man would take the hint and leave him alone. He could only tolerate him in small doses, and taking a test drive with him was more than a small dose.

Not only that, but something about his behavior seemed a bit off. Brucie was the party all night, sleep all day type, so it was almost creepy that he was up and ready to go so early.

"Come on, don't puss out on me!" Brucie demanded as Niko turned away.

"Look, I'm just not up to it today. I'll call you soon, okay?" he rejected the offer and began walking back towards his apartment.

He found it a bit odd that the fitness fanatic didn't continue to pester him or try to follow him, but he didn't think too much about it. Just as he was about to forget about it entirely, a strange sound met his ears. It sounded almost like something soft was being stretched out.

Overcome with curiosity, he turned around and was surprised to see that Brucie was violently twitching and seemed to be in immense pain. Fearing that he was suffering from a steroid induced heart attack, Niko ran towards him, but stopped dead in his tracks as the stretching noise got louder and more vile sounding.

Something about this wasn't right, and he instinctively took a step back. Though he wasn't sure why, uneasiness swept over him. Before he had a chance to question why he felt this way, it was answered for him in one grotesque action.

Brucie's mouth opened unnaturally wide, and a set of short, fleshy jaws filled with jagged fangs and dripping with clear slime extended from it.

Niko's heart leapt up into his throat and his eyes went wide, refusing to believe what he was seeing. It couldn't be real. Things like this don't exist. For a split second he thought he was having a nightmare, but the intense pangs of fear he felt were very real. He could see, hear and almost feel this thing- whatever it was- transforming right in front of him. No words came when he opened his mouth, and his legs didn't cooperate with him when he tried to run, causing him to fall down. All he could do was stare, unmoving, frozen to the spot with shock.

The unpleasant sound of tearing flesh filled the hall, and several long, thin insect like limbs sprouted from the creature's back, blood spurting out as they emerged. It emitted an otherworldly howl and charged at him, causing him to go into panic overload mode.

The distance between the monster and its victim rapidly began to close, and Niko barely noticed as the door to his right swung open.

"What in God's name is going on out here?" an irritated voice asked.

It was Niko's elderly bathrobe clad neighbor, Mr. Loesch.

"Holy mother of-" he didn't get to utter another word before the monster swung one of its clawed appendages, brutally impaling the old man and slamming him against the wall.

His dying screams echoed through the hall, finally snapping Niko out of his shock.

Quickly picking himself up, Niko bolted down the hall towards his apartment in a panic. He was in such a frenzy that he forgot to shut and lock his front door. Instead of locking it, he sprinted into his bedroom and retrieved his shotgun from under the bed, reloading it with trembling hands.

Taking several deep breaths, Niko slowly inched out of the room and hid in his door frame. Sickening crunching and squishing sounds drifted from the left, indicating that the monster was eating. Maybe it would go away once it was done. Then again, it might not be satisfied unless it ate him as well.

Almost hyperventilating and sweating profusely, he counted backwards from ten before cautiously stepping into the hall.

The creature had mutated even further, as its jaws had elongated to the point of being almost crocodilian, causing its human mouth to be torn open on both sides, and a deep, toothy rift had opened up in its left shoulder. It was hunched over Mr. Loesch's bloodied, ripped open corpse, which was sitting in a growing pool of blood. Once the monster noticed Niko's presence, it growled and looked up at him as blood and chunks of gore dripped freely from its jaws.

Niko wasted no time in firing a shell directly into its head, sending it reeling back. He immediately fired another into its chest, blowing away some of the flesh. Surprisingly, this wasn't enough. Instead of going down, it leapt back up and charged at him again, barely even slowing when another bullet pierced its body.

Niko was aghast. The thing had taken three shotgun blasts to the head and chest, yet it didn't seem even slightly injured. If anything, it was absolutely enraged. Just as large scythe like pinchers erupted from the ends of its multiple insect like arms, he pumped his last three shells into it, praying it would be enough to down the beast. No such luck.

The creature howled angrily and drew back one of its bladed arms, preparing to strike. Thinking fast, Niko leapt to the left, barely dodging the attack. As he landed in his doorway, he saw the monster sail past him and crash out of the window, sending razor sharp shards of glass flying everywhere. A second later, he heard the sound if it smashing down onto the ground below, then everything went quiet.

For the longest time, Niko laid on the floor in disbelief about what just happened, waiting for his accelerated heart rate to return to normal.

As insane as it sounded, he had legitimately been attacked by a seemingly invincible monstrosity that had been disguised as a human and killed his neighbor. He had a tough time believing it, but it couldn't be denied.

Suddenly realizing his front door was still hanging wide open, he got up and locked it. It only had two flimsy locks keeping it shut, one sliding bolt type and one chain type, neither one of which was very strong. Still, they were better than nothing.

Once the door was locked, Niko repeatedly ran his hand through his short hair and paced around the room manically, trying to make sense of the whole scenario. It wasn't the invincibility thing that scared him the most, it was the fact that before revealing itself, the creature had looked like, sounded like and even acted exactly like Brucie. Everything about it was wrong on so many levels, and it filled him with dread to think about who else might be one of them. If there was one, there was sure to be another.

The conversation he'd had with Roman only fifteen minutes ago came back to him, and he raced back to his room, quickly dialing his cousin's number. He answered on the first ring.

"Niko, are you alright?" he asked with concern.

"I believe you! I was just attacked by a monster!" Niko shouted into the phone.

"WHAT?! Did it touch you?!"

"It was Brucie, he turned into a monster, killed my neighbor and attacked me!"

"Cousin, DID IT TOUCH YOU?"

"No, I jumped out of the way, and it fell out the window."

"Thank god you're okay. You really had me worried."

"I shot it six times, but it didn't die! Six times, Roman!"

"Cousin, just calm down. It's gone, right?"

"Yeah, its gone. This...this is just not how I pictured my day going."

Niko took a moment to think of a plan before speaking again. "Roman, I'm coming to pick up you and Mallory along with a couple friends, then we can all get out of here. I don't know where we'll go, but we need to get as far away from the city as possible."

"Uh, how exactly do you plan on doing that? The government shut down the airport this morning and is forbidding any planes from taking off or leaving. Plus, all the bridges are being heavily guarded by the police. They don't want anybody leaving or entering any of the islands."

"...Are you serious?" Niko asked, completely dumbstruck.

"I'm afraid so. There are tons of cops on each bridge, and there are police helicopters patrolling them, shooting anybody who tries to get across. There are even fucking tanks on the bridge to Algonquin! A bunch of people have already died trying to get across, I've been watching it on the news."

"I don't care how, but somehow I'll find a way. We WILL get out of here. I'll come pick you up."

"And where will we go? The entire city is on lockdown!"

"I don't know, I haven't thought about that yet. But we'll find a way. I promise."

"Take some time to think about it. Call me soon, okay?"

"I will, don't worry. I'll talk to you later." Niko hung up and moseyed over to the living room window to observe the atmosphere.

It was disturbingly quiet, and the streets seemed devoid of life. Even the ever present pigeons were absent.

There was an abandoned red Sedan parked diagonally in the middle of the street, with the owner nowhere in sight. The driver's side door was hanging open, like it was begging Niko to come outside and steal it.

He could see some lights on in the apartment building across the street, with silhouettes moving behind the curtains, confirming that some people had locked themselves in their homes.

The silence was broken as the blaring of police car sirens approached from the distance. A squadron of cop cars slowly drove down the street, and one of the officers was shouting commands through a megaphone.

"Attention all civilians! Stay in your homes and do not open your front door for anyone except the LCPD, not even a loved one. They may not be who they say they are. I repeat, stay in your homes, and do not let ANYONE in unless it is a member of the LCPD police force! For your own safety, stay inside. Any civilian caught wandering the streets will be arrested."

The squad cars maneuvered around the red Sedan and continued cruising down the street, eventually disappearing behind the bend.

Niko retreated back to his bedroom and mentally reviewed what he had to do. Not only did he have to find a way to get across the heavily guarded bridge into Broker to pick up Roman and Mallory, he also needed to contact and pick up Jacob, Packie and Kate. If they were still alive.

A look over of his current firearm cache revealed that he only had a pistol and a shotgun. He only had a few shotgun shells left, so he'd have to make do with the pistol until he could get something that packed a stronger punch.

Taking out his phone again, he dialed Jacob's number. It took a few rings, but he eventually picked up.

"Niko, man! Have you seen dem tings? Is crazy!"

"I just had a close encounter with one, and I don't want to repeat that scenario. I'm coming to get you and a few others, then we're going to my cousin's place in Bohan. Do you have weapons?"

"Of course. I and Badman be armed to the teeth, man. Even got flamethrowers! You need dem for those tings!"

"I'll be right over."

Niko stuffed his pistol, phone and several boxes of handgun ammo into the pockets in his jacket before heading out the door.

As he stepped into the hall, we went on high alert. The monster was gone, but it had left a chaotic scene behind. The hall window was shattered, allowing a light breeze to blow through, and the floor was littered with glass shards. Blood streaked down the walls near Mr. Loesch's apartment door, and the corpse of Mr. Loesch himself was in rough shape, as some of his entrails had been strewn about.

Niko ignored the ghastly sight and quietly tiptoed down the stairs, checking for movement on each level. He heard a mother comforting a crying child from behind one of the doors, but nothing to suggest the presence of a monster.

When he got outside, he bolted right for the Sedan, checking both the backseats and the trunk for unwanted companions. It was clear, so he slid into the driver's side, smashed off the ignition, and hot wired it. The car started without too much trouble, but he'd need to get something bigger and more resilient if he wanted to get across the bridge.

The streets were mostly empty, but there were some abandoned cars parked right in the middle of the street. They were mostly civilian cars, but there was also a burned out, smoldering police cruiser among them. A few distraught looking people were wandering around, but there was no way Niko was even going to consider picking them up.

Before long, he reached Jacob's apartment building. He parked the car and scanned the area before getting out. He detected movement to the left, and saw three figures standing on the roof of the building when he looked out the window. One was Jacob, and Niko recognized the other two as Badman, Jacob's best friend, and Elizabeta, a drug dealer he had done some work for a few weeks back.

He got out of the car and was just about to call out to them when he heard a snarl behind him.

"Niko! Behind you! Is one of dem!" he heard Jacob shout.

Niko glanced behind him and saw a snarling black and white infected dog, most likely a husky, emerge from a nearby alley. It had about ten gore slicked tentacles protruding from it's back, and it began to vibrate as its head split in half right down the middle.

"Fuck!" Niko put a bullet right into the beast's new orfice, which temporarily knocked it over, giving him time to escape.

"Over here, Niko! Quick!" Badman beckoned him from the rooftop, pointing to the fire escape.

A flash of orange exploded beside him, but he didn't look back to see what it was. Instead, he sprinted up the fire escape, taking time to retract the stairs so the monster couldn't follow. When he reached the top, he clambered over the ledge and onto the rooftop.

"Niko, man! You made it! I is glad to see you!" Jacob announced, then tossed another object-a flaming moltov cocktail, down at the monster. It's agonized howls drifted up a second later, signifying a hit.

"Thanks for killing that thing. This is all so unreal, I actually thought I was going to die when one of those things attacked me in the apartments. I shot it six times, but it didn't die." Niko explained.

"Don't waste your bullets. You got to burn them, sweetie. It's the only way to kill them." Liz informed. She had a makeshift flamethrower strapped to her back, and all three of them had a massive supply of moltov cocktails and grenades.

"Is true. You need fire, nothin' else kills dem, take my word for it." Badman said.

"Mind telling me how you know that?" Niko asked a bit suspiciously.

"Basically, we were attacked by one of those things, and we tried shooting the shit out of it first. When that didn't work, we set that thing on fire, and luckily found the one thing that kills them." Liz said.

"I wish I had known that earlier, I would have brought some flammables." Niko stated.

"Don't worry about it, we gots plenty." Jacob said as he lit up a joint. "But we gwan need a bigger car." he motioned to the jacked Sedan parked below.

The previous vehicle dilemma became bigger once Niko realized he'd need to fit himself, Roman, Mallory, Jacob, Badman, Elizabeta, Packie, Kate and a bunch of molotov cocktails and other explosives into one car. The Sedan wouldn't do, which left him at a loss. There was always the option of highjacking a semi truck and stashing everyone in the trailer, but he had no idea how to drive one. What he really needed was a large, armored vehicle, but those weren't exactly easy to come by.

Just as he was about to ask his comrades about it, his phone rang. Since he assumed it was Roman again, he immediately reached for it, only to scowl with disgust upon seeing that Dimitri was calling him.

"What do you want, you fucking traitor?" Niko snarled.

"So hostile, Niko. I'd like you to work with us, and that's the first thing you say?"

"Work with you? Why would I want to do that? So you can betray me again?"

"Don't you see what's happening to Liberty City? Look around you, Niko. These things are everywhere. I know we had a falling out, but I want to put that behind us. You really impressed me when you took out Faustin for me, so if we're going to survive this, we want a man like you working with us. Let's team up together."

"You've got to be kidding. After everything you've done to me and Roman, you seriously think I'm going to help you?"

"I figured you'd say that, but if you accept our offer, Mr. Bulgarin will give you a gift."

"Oh, and what would that be? A sack full of dead puppies and vials of children's tears?"

"How does a bulletproof FIB van sound?"

This made Niko pause. There were three possible outcomes for this. It was either too good to be true, a trap, or on the off chance that the offer was genuine, there had to be a massive catch.

"What's the catch? Don't even try to tell me you're being nice, because you and Bulgarin are two of the most psychotic, deranged motherfuckers I've ever met in my whole life."

"Get us to Alderney State Penitentiary." Dimitri said cooly. "We've got connections, we could get a helicopter to pick us up from there. Help us out, and the van is yours. If you accept our offer, meet us in the old warehouse in the port district, same one as last time."

Niko scowled. Even though he couldn't see his adversary, he knew Dimitri was smirking with delight as he spoke. Working with those two again was the last thing he wanted, but they had something he needed, which left him with no real say in the matter.

After about fifteen seconds, he begrudgingly said, "...Fine." and hung up.

When he did so, he saw that Jacob, Badman and Liz were all staring at him curiously.

"Who was dat?" Jacob inquired.

"Two people who I'd hoped I'd never have to see again. They offered me a deal, and I didn't have much of a choice but to accept. These guys have a bulletproof FIB van, but they won't let us have it unless we help them out. We've got to meet them down in the port district. You guys need to come with me for cover in case its an ambush."

"Nobody succeeds by being nice. We should just kill them and take the damn thing." Liz stated.

"It wouldn't be that easy, trust me. I've worked with both of these guys, I know what they're like. I don't want to do this, but it's the only way we're getting into Bohan. My cousin and his fiancé are depending on me." Niko said.

The group packed up all the moltovs and grenades in addition to stocking up on firearms before heading down to the ground, checking for infected before doing so. None were in sight, so the four of them piled into the Sedan and Niko re hot wired it.

He didn't speak to his passengers as he drove, as he was in a very foul mood. Right after he had been attacked by the Brucie-Thing, he'd thought that this unbelievably fucked up day couldn't get any worse. How wrong he'd been. In the span of two hours, he'd been attacked by a monster and forced into working with his enemies.

The timing of their phone call unnerved him. It was one of those things that couldn't be a coincidence, but he didn't want to know how they knew he needed an armored vehicle.

The shrill wailing of a police siren interrupted his morose thoughts. A cop car zoomed up from around the corner, occupied by only one panicked looking officer.

"Pull over now! You are all under arrest!" he shouted through the megaphone.

When Niko refused to comply, the officer retaliated and ground up against the Sedan, trying to run it off the road.

"I said pull over! This is your last warning!" The car rammed into the Sedan again, causing sparks to fly in every direction.

Badman, who was in the backseat, rolled down his window, aimed his shotgun at the squad car, and fired. The cop's head was instantly obliterated, drenching the inside of the windshield with blood and brain fragments, and the car swerved off the road, smashing head on into a brick wall.

"Ay, you didn't need ta kill dat guy!" Jacob commented, but didn't look too surprised at his mentor's actions.

"He was gwan arrest us! I not take chances, seen?" Badman countered, and the two of them delved in incomprehensible squabbling.

"Knock it off!" Niko scolded. "We're here. Be on high alert."

He slowed down as entered the port district, slowly cruising past vacant looking buildings. The area was completely deserted and almost deathly quiet, which made the atmosphere more ominous.

Liz poked Niko with a long red nail, drawing his attention. "Look over there. There's an armored truck parked by that warehouse."

She wasn't lying, as he could see the FIB van parked off to the side of one of the larger warehouses. Niko parked the car a safe distance from the building and rolled down his window, surveying the area intently while thinking of a plan. Apparently the offer was genuine, but he still needed to exercise caution.

"Liz, Badman, you guys stay here and look out for anything that seems suspicious. Jacob, you come with me and watch my back. I'll go in, and I want you to stay right outside the entrance but don't let them see you. If they know I've got company, they might not come out." he instructed.

Jacob nodded, grabbed a shotgun and a grenade, and wordlessly followed him.

They silently crept up to the warehouse and took cover just outside the entrance.

Niko took a brief glance inside, seeing only tall stacks of wood. While he couldn't see either of his oppressors, he heard two voices conversing in Russian and knew it was them.

"Keep an eye on me. If it's an ambush, signal to Liz and Badman, then all three of you come in, okay? And don't shoot unless you can start a fire, they might be monsters."

"Don't worry Niko, I got you covered." Jacob said.

"Then here goes nothing," Niko said to himself and slunk inside the building.


	2. Chapter 2: Reuniting the family

Author's note:I may have forgotten to mention, but this story takes place after 'Russian Revolution' and 'The Holland Play' but before 'Blood Brothers', as all 5 of the McReary's will appear or at least be mentioned in this story.

* * *

Disabling the safety on his gun, Niko stealthily crept into the warehouse and glanced around, investigating every shadow.

It had gone quiet, so he didn't know where his enemies were. He kept his guard up, as it was more than likely that they were hiding behind something and would jump him as soon as he got near.

"Niko, you can put your gun down. We aren't here to kill you." Dimitri's voice drifted from somewhere above.

Niko whipped around and saw Dimitri and Bulgarin perched on the catwalk above the building's entrance, looking down at him. Neither of them were armed, and neither made any sudden moves towards him, which made him relax ever so slightly, but he refused to lower his gun.

"How can I be so sure of that?" he asked. "After all, you aren't exactly a man of your word."

"Because, Niko, we need your help. If there's anyone who can get us out of this, it's you." Bulgarin said in a disgusted way, like he'd rather die than admit he needed help.

"Look, I know we have a bit of a troubled past, but let's start over. I want to make it up to. You trusted me once, I'm sure you can do it again." Dimitri proposed.

Niko was having a very tough time believing their bullshit. Their behavior didn't seem quite right, but he figured at least one of them was still human. If they were both monsters, he would have been dead already.

Instead of responding to Dimitri, he abruptly changed the subject. "Mind telling me where you got an FIB van? They aren't exactly easy to come by."

"If you absolutely must know, I hired this guy, Luis Lopez, to do some work for me. He helped me get it." Bulgarin informed. "Any other questions?"

"Just one. How did you know I needed it?" Niko asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"We know where your cousin lives, and we figured you'd want to get over there." Dimitri smirked at him and began descending the stairs. "By the way, tell your three friends out there to stop hiding."

"How did you-"

"I can see through windows, Niko." he gestured to the large window behind him that overlooked the whole port.

Niko silently cursed to himself and waited until both of them had collected some weapons, left the building, and introduced themselves to the others.

Truthfully, Dimitri had always creeped him out a bit, even upon meeting him for the first time. There was something unnerving about the guy, but he had never been able to pinpoint exactly what it was. Perhaps it was how he played the part of a timid, submissive underling so well when in reality he was as cold blooded as they come.

Now, Niko was regretting all the work he had done for him. If only he had put a bullet in Dimitri's head after disposing of Faustin, then he would have taken that psycho out and also wouldn't have needed to worry about Bulgarin finding him.

Alas, it was too late now.

When he got outside, Niko seized Jacob by the arm and pulled him aside so the others couldn't hear him. "Listen, I don't trust these guys at all, and you shouldn't either. There's no telling what they might do, so if one of them even looks at you funny, put a bullet right between his eyes."

"I is cool, Niko. Dimitri's a real dogheart, you know? And I not like tha look of dat other guy. Creepin' me out." Jacob said.

"You're right about that. He's the kind of guy who never forgets and never forgives." Niko said, feeling a bit hypocritical as he did so.

He walked over to where the other four were awaiting him, eager to get inside the safety of the N.O.O.S.E van.

"Your chariot awaits, Mr. Bellic. You drive." Bulgarin tossed the keys to Niko.

Niko clambered into the driver's seat and stared in dismay at the complex controls, which were exclusive to government vehicles. The dashboard was equipped with all kinds of buttons and levers he had never seen before, so he decided not to touch anything but the steering wheel. Within a few seconds, he had it started up and turned towards his passengers.

"We need to pick up a friend of mine before going to my cousin's place. He lives pretty close by."

It took him a few minutes to get used to the truck's controls, but he managed to get the hang of it and drove to the Steinway Gardens area, stopping in front of the McReary's house. He took out his cellphone, dialed Packie's number and awaited a response. After several rings, Kate picked up.

"Oh my gosh, Niko! Is that really you?"

"Yes. I'm glad you're safe, Kate. We're hear to pick up you and Packie. Take a quick look out the window." Niko glanced at the window to the right of the front door and briefly saw Kate peek through the shades.

"Okay, hang on a second. I'll tell Patrick you're here. Hopefully he'll believe it's really you."

"Is anyone else home besides you two?"

"No, I'm afraid not. Ma's not here, Gerry's in prison, Francis is probably holed up in the police station, and to be honest, I have no idea where Derrick is. Neither of us have heard from him in several days."

"Sorry to hear that, Kate." Niko ended their conversation, relieved that Kate and Packie where both still alive. Weather or not they were still human remained to be seen, but he had high hopes.

Several minutes later, they emerged from the house, both toting shotguns and looking like they had been up all night. Niko was a little taken aback by this, as he never thought he'd live to see the day where Kate McReary used a gun or even held one.

She got into the front passenger seat while Packie got in back with everyone else.

"Niko, my boy! I'm fucking ecstatic to see you. This is just crazy, isn't it? I don't even know what to do with all these creatures running around all over. Shit, even Katie's packing heat, that's how insane this is!" Packie rambled manically, having just snorted a few lines of Coke.

"Well, you'd be surprised at how quickly you can learn something when the circumstance calls for it. I'm just hoping I won't actually have to use this thing." Kate said.

"Packie, are you high?" Niko scolded. "Because this really isn't the time."

"A little, yeah. I need to be alert, ready to take out anyone who looks suspicious." Packie admitted, then immediately changed the subject. "Man, I hope Derrick is okay. I haven't seen him in a few days, you know. He's probably sitting on a park bench with a needle in his arm, he'd never even see one of those things coming."  
He looked over the group of strangers in the van, eyeing them in a distrustful fashion. "So, is anybody going to tell me where we're going?"

"Alderney State correctional facility. It should be the safest place in the whole city." Dimitri informed.

Packie perked up at the mention of the prison. "We're going there? My brother Gerry is being held there, we can bust him out!"

"Maybe, if we have time."

"What do you mean, maybe? Who made you the boss?"

"If you think you can push me around, you're mistaken. I don't have to take orders from a kid."

"Kid? Fuck you, I'm twenty eight!"

Niko sighed and started driving towards the Dukes-Broker bridge while doing his best to ignore the growing tensions in the back of the van.

"How about we all be quiet? Does that sound good?" he asked hopefully, feeling a headache coming on. He was almost startled when silence settled over the van, as he hadn't expected them to listen to him.

He drove slowly towards the edge of the Broker area, maneuvering through the abandoned cars littering the street. There seemed to be more of them than before, and a disturbing number of them had considerable damage or blood on the windshields.

Every couple of minutes, he glanced in the rearview mirror to check up on his passengers, mainly to make sure that Dimitri and Bulgarin were behaving. He was relieved to see that they were just making small talk with Elizabeta instead of trying to sabotage the van.  
Niko's attention was drawn to Badman, who was staring at Packie with a half curious, half malicious glare.

"You, rudeboy! You ever by coke from I?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I knew you looked familiar to me. I never ripped you off, if that's what you're asking." Packie replied.

Kate turned towards Niko and offered a small smile, putting her hand on his arm. "Niko, thank you for coming to get me and Patrick. You didn't have to do that, you know."

"I wasn't going to just leave you. I could never do that." Niko said. "We can talk later, but for now, I really need to focus on the road. We'll be at the bridge soon."

"Okay." Kate left him alone and stared out the window, wondering if this would be the last time she would see Broker.

Within a few minutes, they arrived at the bridge. Traffic had drastically thickened up and ground to a halt, vehicles packed bumper to bumper. Hundreds of people on foot where crowded around the entrance of the bridge, and some bullet riddled corpses were strewn about.

Roman's statement that the bridge was heavily guarded had been accurate. Standing in front of the line of cars was a squadron of at least one hundred heavily armed police officers in riot gear and a dozen police cruisers. Four LCPD helicopters slowly circled around the bridge, each one containing several officers with rifles trained on the pedestrians.

Niko cautiously drove forward, using the van's bulk to push other vehicles aside, but went slow enough to avoid injuring or killing anyone. Car windows shattered, side mirrors snapped off, and furious, strung out pedestrians cursed at him the entire way.

He stopped about twenty feet from the barricade of cops.

Instantly, every officer in the front row had their guns aimed at the van. The most senior officer on the scene raised a white megaphone and began barking orders through it.

"You in the van! Back off now or we'll start shooting!"

Kate gasped. "What are we going to do, Niko? This may be an armored van, but the windshield can only take so many bullets!"

"I'm thinking," Niko said. He was tempted to plow right through the cops, but that might not turn out so well.

As he tried to think of a plan, he noticed that one of the patrolling helicopters was flying in a wobbly fashion. It only took a second to see why: the co pilot was in the process of transforming into a monster and viciously attacking the pilot. The other occupant, instead of taking his chances with the monster, leaped from the helicopter, falling into the river below. The helicopter took a nosedive and hurtled towards the bridge, smashing down right into the middle of the parked squad cars, exploding on impact. As it collided onto the concrete, the helicopter blades snapped off and sailed through the air, impaling and decapitating several cops. Many others had been knocked to the ground from the resulting shockwaves or burned from the flames, creating an opening.

Niko floored it and sped forward, bullets hitting the side of the van as police pursued.

"Stop right now! That is an order!"

"Hold on everybody, brace yourselves!" Niko advised his passengers and increased his speed, smashing past the burning helicopter wreckage. The van was rocked and spun around several times, sending most of its occupants tumbling to the floor, but it remained upright.

Another squadron of cops was waiting on the other side of the bridge. A few shot at the rapidly oncoming vehicle, but most of them panicked and jumped out of the way. A couple weren't quick enough and were messily squashed underneath the wheels of the van.

Once they had cleared the bridge, Niko took a sharp left, arriving at Mallory's apartment a minute later.

After making sure everyone was alright, he gave his cousin a call.

"Roman, I'm outside your place. There's a bunch of us here, and we're going to come in, okay?"

"Of course, cousin! I'm so glad you made it! Come on up! Plus, the more of us there are, the less likely those creatures will get us."

"I sure hope so. I'll see you in a minute."

The group jumped out of the van, taking a bunch of weapons with them, and headed up the stairs to Mallory's apartment.

Before Niko could knock on the door, it swung open to reveal his cousin.

"Niko, cousin! It's so nice to see you!" Roman squeezed Niko so hard that his breathing was almost cut off.

"Too hard, Roman."

"Oh, sorry. I'm just so relieved, for a while there I didn't think you were coming."

"We ran into some obstacles, but we all made it in one piece."

Roman gestured for everyone to get inside. Once everyone had filed in, he shut the door and locked it.

Mallory, who had been intently watching the streets from the living room window, turned to greet them.

"It's so good to see you, Niko." she said.

"Nice to see you too, Mallory. How have you and Roman been holding up?"

"Not so good. Neither of us have slept, and we've both been freaking out since last night."

Once everyone got situated, Niko introduced the rest of the group to Roman and Mallory. Roman greeted everyone in a friendly manner, completely unaware he was staring at the same two guys who had burned down his old apartment and business, as well as arranging his kidnapping.

Suddenly feeling exhausted, Niko sunk into a nearby armchair. As awful and chaotic as the day had been so far, he felt intensely relived for the time being. His cousin was safe, and his friends were safe.

Perhaps they'd make it through this after all.

* * *

Sorry, this chapter is kind of boring. I needed a way to get the entire group together. The next chapter will be much more exiting, I promise. Someone in the group isn't who they say they are. Pat yourself on the back if you can properly guess who it is. Hint: It's not Dimitri. That would be too obvious.


End file.
